Am I just slower than most?? (300 hours, more like 500+..)

CFA Level II
#1

i forget exactly how many hours CFAI recommend for each level but if I recall it’s around 300 hours.

There is roughly 3000 pages of curriculum. I’m currently not working right now and am at the library from 9am (latest) to 5PM every day studying. Sure I have my peak periods and sluggish periods, which I believe is, human. To be honest I touch my phone about 5 times in those 8 hours as my sh*tty cell provider doesn’t get reception in this library (so very minimal procrastination).

I try to target 50 pages of curriculum every day, but more often than not fall short of this. So I get through slower than 10 pages an hour (I go through all blue examples, and EOC questions). More like 8 pages an hour or so. Keep in my mind my goal is to learn the material, and not just read through it; I highly doubt many humans can just read through the curriculum like a novel and understand everything…

3000 pages divided by 8 pages an hour is 375 hours of studying, and that’s just FIRST READ. There is no retention counted there. After 2nd read through and retention/memorization/mocks It’s closer to 600+ hours.

I’m not complaining about my situation b/c I’m lucky enough to be supported by parents while I study these 3 months. But I do have a problem with CFA recommending 300ish hours when I would wager it would take a good deal of people longer than that just to go through the curriculum one time.

Am I missing something drastic here?

#2

most people use the schweser notes or wiley, that cuts down on the hours. I think if you want to read the curriculum only, you might need to start earlier and/or dedicate more hours.

#3

The piece you are missing is that you need to speed up your reading. As you noted, you’re not going to retain everything the first time around so go through quick on your first pass, don’t go back and try to master everything. Just get through it and you’ll find you know a lot more than you expected when you hit it hard for the second pass and review.

#4

I second the comment from NoScience. Remember that the CFAI quoted numbers are based on a sample survey of test takers. Most people use a 3rd party provider which will cut down on the hour requirement. Now whether or not that reduces the pass rate is up for debate.

#5
  1. Streamline the process. Start at the end game and work backwards. 2) You are missing nothing. Getting to a passing score can be extremely slow, or moderately slow. That goes back to “1)”, your process. There is no fast pass.